Shape or Adapt: The Future of Policing

Abstract

Are police shapers or adaptors? Are police able to shape or control their future or do they adapt to outside community and political changes or pressures? This study explores whether police are able to shape their future or whether they adapt. The study examines how police and policing has reacted in the past ten to fifteen years to the rapidly changing operating environment. As a result, seven strategic areas are proposed for police agencies to consider as a basis for analysis. The proposed framework is likely to enable police to become more resilient in the face of further uncertainty and enable them to shape or adapt, depending on the level and nature of the uncertainty.

Keywords

• Police reform
• strategy
• planning
• police organisation